Losing his grip

Rising number of political brush fires spell trouble for the Obama presidency

He’s still got a few months to pull it together. But by nearly every measurement, the Obama presidency is unraveling.

When our heretofore unheard-of Commerce Secretary John Bryson was cited over last weekend for ramming several cars with his own in separate accidents in California, Mr. Obama’s press secretary did everything he could to dodge questions about it.

“This White House has too many other pileups to deal with,” wrote liberal Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.

“Job growth has stalled, the Democrats have been humiliated in Wisconsin, the attorney general is facing a contempt-of-Congress citation, talks with Pakistan have broken down, Bill Clinton is contradicting Obama, Mitt Romney is outraising him, Democrats and Republicans alike are complaining about a ‘cascade’ of national-security leaks from his administration, and he is now on record as saying that the ‘private sector is doing fine.’

“Could it get any worse?”

Maybe.

Heat was dialed up in Congress this past week for that embattled Attorney General Eric Holder to resign over his abject failure to assist in getting to the bottom of the disgraceful “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal. Someone in Holder’s bailiwick authorized U.S. agents to purposely allow high-powered guns to get into the hands of mega-dangerous Mexican drug cartels. Hundreds were shot with them, including U.S. Border

Patrol agent Brian A. Terry, who was slain.

“One year ago today,” CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson reported late last year, “Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was gunned down in Arizona near the Mexican border by illegal immigrants armed with weapons from the now-infamous ATF ‘Fast and Furious’ gunwalking operation.”

It’s a scandal, pure and simple. But Holder’s handling of it has become another one. You would think an attorney general would be the first person to want to get to the bottom of a case in which his own agency’s bungling led to the death of one of his agents. But Holder has obstructed Congress at nearly every turn, and faces a possible contempt-of-Congress vote later this week.

“I would say that you leave me no alternative but to join those that call upon you to resign your office,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told him last week.

Then there are the eye-popping, broad-based leaks of national security information – about the Osama bin Laden raid and, more recently, a New York Times story detailing Obama’s personal involvement in a secret “kill” list of terror suspects. The leaks have also exposed a U.S. double agent in Yemen and U.S. “cyber” tactics against Iran.

The leaks, folks on both sides of the aisle agree, seem calculated only to puff up Mr. Obama’s image.

“A really disturbing aspect of this,” says Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., “is that one could draw the conclusion from reading these articles that it is an attempt to further the president’s political ambitions for the sake of his re-election at the expense of our national security.”

This is a wholly bipartisan concern. Democrats and Republicans joined each other on Capitol Hill to demand accountability for the leaks.

When a Democratic president has Dianne Feinstein nipping at his heels, he knows he’s in big trouble.

Holder has tried to call off the dogs by appointing two of his U.S. attorneys to investigate the leaks. Such a probe, by political appointees under Holder, won’t have much credibility, and some have called for a special counsel to investigate – which you can bet the Obama camp would love to put off until after the November election.

One thing the administration can’t put off, which may make the president’s summer even worse: The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on “Obamacare” and the administration’s challenge to the Arizona illegal immigration law. Both rulings have the capacity to further embarrass the president – particularly if the health care law, his chief legislative triumph, is rolled back.

For now, the intelligence leaks simply make the administration look desperate, cheap and pathetic – even to committed liberals.

“What is remarkable about the recent leaks is the coincidence,” writes the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen “... that (the leaks) all made the president look good, heroic, decisive, strong and even a touch cruel ...

“The leakers set out to blow a mighty trumpet for Obama. It came out, however, like a shrill penny whistle.”

One of the few unscripted moments of his three years in office – and you can now see why there aren’t many of them – came recently in a rare press conference in which he oddly and wrongly put forth that “the private sector is doing fine.” It will likely go down as one of the great verbal blunders in presidential history.

Ironically, the only thing the first president with his own logo may have left when it’s over is what he started with: his brand.

What is his brand? It’s hope and change. It’s fighting for the little guy. It’s a new American humility in foreign affairs in which we “lead from behind” in the world. So how’s he doing on those counts? He has abandoned “hope and change” for bitter partisan attacks; no one has suffered more under him than the little guy; and American preeminence in the world is at greater risk than at anytime since World War II.

But more than anything, the Obama brand is about the hip aura that made “Obama girl” swoon in Internet videos – the aura that says “Hey, relax. I got this.”

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different visions of how to grow the economy. The path Mitt Romney and his Republican allies want to take us down is exactly the one that led us to the 2008 crisis. We have to reject those policies and embrace the President's vision of growing the economy, not from the top down,but from the middle class out.

Just to prove he really doesn't get it after his "private sector is doing fine" remark, he wants to increase government jobs. Someone please sit him down and teach him how capitalism works. He can look at Greece to see what happens when you go the other way.

Oh, Augusta Chronicle editorial staff - please stop hating on our President. He is not perfect, but he's the best choice for the future of this country.

Look at the mess he inherited from GW Bush - a mess of astronomical proportions. And he has spent the last 3 years cleaning up that mess - with no help from Republicans. As a matter of fact, the Republicans hate him so much, they are willing to see America sink like a ship, just to prove how much they hate him. They disrespect him, refuse to work with Obama on key issues, and undermine good legislation that will benefit all Americans.

The day I see the Chronicle supporting our President's decisions and not berating him, is the day it will snow in July.

On this, the 40th anniversary of the Watergate scandal, I thought we might get an editorial of an example of real executive malfeasance. Instead, it's just the usual bash Obama day where they throw as much mud as they can and hope some of it sticks. Alas, the Chronicle has become a one trick pony.

“With all due respect, senator, there is so much that is factually wrong with the premises that you started your statement with, it’s almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy.”

“If you want to talk about Fast and Furious, I’m the attorney general that put an end to the misguided tactics that were used in Fast and Furious. An attorney general whom I suppose you would hold in higher regard was briefed on these kinds of tactics in an operation called ‘Wide Receiver’ and did nothing to stop them. Nothing. Three hundred guns, at least, ‘walked’ in that instance.

“I’m also the attorney general who called on an inspector general to look into this matter, to investigate this matter. I’m also the attorney general who made personnel changes at ATF and in the U.S. Attorneys office that was involved, have overseen the changes of processes and procedures within ATF to make sure that this doesn’t happen ever again.

“So I don’t have any intention of resigning.”

“I am willing to sit down and talk about the provision of more materials. I have sent letters in that regard, the deputy attorney general has sent letters in that regard, and have not had responses. Which leads me to believe that the desire here is not for an accommodation but for a political point-making.”

I think he already knows. He's not interested in capitalism. He made it quite clear in 2008, but we elected him anyway. He wants to "fundamentally change" America and capitalism isn't part of the plan.

10/2/2003-"The White House, which denies any role in the leak, has also ordered a full investigation; and the guilty party, or parties, sent to jail. But that's not enough for the anti-Bush crowd. Led by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., they want a special counsel to be appointed to conduct an "independent" investigation. The assumption is that the Bush administration can't be trusted - that the Justice Department, the White House, the FBI are all too corrupt to conduct an honest probe.
There's just no evidence of that. Careerists in Justice and the FBI can be just as thorough and independent as any outside counsel, and they're more experienced, too."

Does the AC have a double standard depending on the Adminitration?
You betcha.

Thou protest too much, and divert rather than address substance by trying to force others to be on the defensive. President Obama sinks or swims on the basis of his performance, his platform/promises, his public image/persona and his ability to lead America through war, crisis or calm which includes concensus building, compromising, and dealing with both houses of Congress, our allies and others.

Techfan, I'm sure our illustrious AACOS wouldn't do anything such as disable your link to the 2003 editorial that you posted. They are simply not that duplicitous. We ALL know that to be a fact, don't we?

Apparently,hussein thinks he needs the mexican vote to be the American president for four more years! As far as holder,if i were to ever commit a serious crime,i would want to appoint someone that owed me many favors to investigate the alledged crime.

Dick Armitage admitted he inadvertently outed Valerie Plame, to be accurate. They went ahead with the special prosecutor in any case. Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, had asked Armitage not to reveal his role.

This so call president has done nothing in 3 1/2 years to correct any of the Bush bad situation, instead he has made it a 100 times worst, but still cries "It's Bush Fault". I wish I could use that excuse when I do something wrong.

Obama isn't losing grip. To say he's losing grip indicates he once had a grip. I submit he's never had a grip nor a clue!
Him and his "ivory tower academics" on the faculty staff have longed for having the reigns of power to implement their Keynesian theories of government and economics...
Well they've had that power for over three years now....How's that working out for us?
They are beginning to learn the truth that their "theories" have never and will not work in practice.....And in the meantime we regular Americans are paying the price...After Nov 6th, I'll gladly be able to say good riddance to bad rubbish.....